[open] come along for food

[isaz]

Who: Boreas and you!
Where: Kitchen
When: Lunchtime, early part of sick week 1
Rating: Nothing spicy here except food, maybe
What: Grumpy dragon dad cooks.

From: Wintersmith

I am roasting something I hunted.

Tell me something about your home and I will give you a piece.

[ True to his message, Boreas can be found inside the Temple's rudimentary kitchen. He's cleared out a decent amount of space next to the oven, the carcass of a deer-pigeon fusion animal on the counter with half of the meat sliced off. A rich smell emanates from the brick oven where several cuts of meat are currently cooking - not-quite buttery, carrying notes of spice and zest.

He'll be cooking slices of the deerpigeon as people come, plating them when the juices have completely soaked in. The meat is a bit tough, which he has tried to remedy by cutting slits in the meat in hopes that the residual fat would soften the muscle. What might stand out to others is the manner that it has been seasoned with - the meat is rubbed with butter and some oil to make up for the leanness of the meat, but there is also noticeable amounts of berry paste stuffed into the steak. The texture of the paste is much like pesto, along with how little it has been added, clearly evident that it is meant to serve as seasoning. If one licks a bit of the paste, they'll find that it's the source of the spiciness. It's a strange sort of flavour, but not entirely unpleasant - just unique. Mixed in with the paste are bits of something hard, possibly seeds. Biting them stings, like peppercorns.

Adults may be offered a glass of wine if they look like they need one. Otherwise, feel free to hang out in the kitchen while he cooks his kill. Ask questions, chat with each other, tell him stories while the temple flu isn't too intense.

Occasionally one might see him with his horns replaced by bunny ears. There's probably a reason to it but he's not telling you ]

[ ooc: feel free to tag each other as well! he'll just be around cooking until the meat runs out. if anyone has taste preferences he can try to accommodate them. if you'd like to do wildcards I'm game. hit me up on plurk or via pm ♥ ]

Comments

[resistivity]

( it isn't the message that draws him in. it's the spice. the smell in the air, wafting through the temple. it reminds him of something his mother used to make, some little slice of fire nation cuisine. he drifts in and then stops at the kitchen threshold. whatever or whoever he was expecting to find, it wasn't boreas. )

Oh. Uh... hi.

( he'd thought, for a moment...

but no. instead, he nods politely. mako isn't the most. naturally friendly person on the planet, but growing up with bolin has meant he can change hats if he needs to. )

Whatever you're cooking smells amazing. Something from home?

[purrtagonist]

[holy shit that smells amazing. er. . . what little of it Akira can smell through his congestion, anyway]

Whoa. . .

That's almost the fanciest meal I've ever seen.

[not quite as fancy as some of the meals at the Wilton, but close]

[p_mortem]

[ There's really no reason for Minato to be in the kitchen, seeing as he can't cook, and hasn't had much of an appetite ever since he came here, but kitchens are warm with lit stoves and cooking food, and when he reads the notice pointing him towards the kitchen, he figures he can take advantage of the conversational atmosphere.

Rather than going for the meat, he has his cup of coffee he holds in both hands, balanced on his knees where he sits on a stool he's pulled to one corner of the room. He only takes a drink from it occasionally— its job is to warm his hands, rather than to quench thirst, and he lifts the cup every time he accidentally makes eye contact with somebody.

He's here to eavesdrop, to be honest. Over time, the stool gets dragged just a little closer to wherever Boreas is talking with somebody, so Minato can listen in on stories of people's homes too. He thinks he's being subtle. (He's not really subtle.) ]

[invasif]

[ She is more interested in this food than some of the other fare provided. This reminds her of the palace, of banquets at the side of the king. He had liked hunted game, and demanded it be plentiful at his table. After his death, she had been much more austere and enforced it at her table as a symbol of their mourning for him. No one here will care about that. No one will look at her black dress and black cloak and think she is a young queen in mourning for the man who raised her. She'll wear that black until she dies.

There's a nostalgia to the smell of game, spices, fruit, and something... more. She realizes with a pang that it's hunger, overwhelming and roiling. She hasn't eaten in hundreds of years.

Bewilderment crosses her features at what her body feels in reawakening to this need. She slumps rather gracelessly into a chair, a hand at her forehead. ]

Pardon me... I did not realize how hungry I was, until this moment.

[isaz]

[ There is much to be said about the seeming paradox of spiced cuisine in a land full of ice and snow. However, it's a tradition, in parts - the fire in one's food to be transmuted into a source of strength for the farmers and hunters that traversed mountains and valleys. It's a tradition of much pride, which is why he returns to it in a foreign land - tried and trusted, a sign of hospitality to a people for whom meat was a carefully allocated resource. ]

That's right. Would you like some?

[isaz]

[ Is it, though? That comment gets a slight raise of his eyebrow, but not by much. It's the style of cooking that is common in his homeland, a country of hunters... maybe, it would seem lavish to those of similar backgrounds, but he's under the conception that it's not really the case. ]

Want some?

[ He's already pulling out a tray from the oven even before Akira answers, checking the texture of the meat. ]

[isaz]

[ Minato's presence is definitely not missed, though Boreas doesn't make a point to accost him until he's ready to speak. People have their reasons for keeping to themselves; and he's had a steady stream of people wanting steaks, so there's a lot on his hands.

Though, as his latest customer sits down to try a cut of meat, his attention drifts to the youth lurking in a corner of the kitchen. ]

You're not hungry?

[ He stops at a conversational distance away from Minato - close enough to talk, but far enough to not intrude on his space. ]

[isaz]

[ Boreas had cast a glance at her as she had walked in - a certain refinement to the way she holds herself, the pitch black of her dressing. Though, he had not commented on any of that - if she is willing to offer information, it will be on her own terms. Here, they are all nameless, all strangers - civility is something he must use instead of intimidation.

Though, her words elicit a more obvious reaction from him. He does not leave his post at the kitchen, still working on preparing a cut of meat, but he raises his voice so that she can hear. ]

Are you in the habit of eating spice?

[ Some find the taste of dragon berry too overpowering, as they have told him. ]

[invasif]

No.

[ She decides that is the simplest way to answer. All of her habits, as they were, are so far away they might as well not exist. And before her imprisonment, she had eaten mostly from her own garden. Easier to avoid poisoned food that way, wasn't it. ]

Not in a long time.

[ She exhales, rest her forehead in her hand, already trying to get control over the sudden sensory overload. It already isn't the first time. While waiting in the dark, she had not thought at all about how alien the world would be to her should she rejoin it... ]

[resistivity]

( absolutely yes. but mako doesn't do hand-outs. it always leaves a bad taste in his mouth, especially now that he's older and has more means to pay his own way in the world. he hated begging. and if he can't contribute to the making of a meal in a meaningful way, he'd just as soon not partake. but it's a thoughtful offer, and it gets a little smile out of him as he comes into the kitchen. he has a bag slung over his shoulder, and in it are some pressed leaves he collected for use in tea.

he grabs a chipped old mug, puts water in it and then, in an old instinct, tries to heat it with the outstretched crook of his index finger.

it's not an obvious thing to an outsider. just. a guy who is staring in utter bemusement down at his cup, which. is very plainly cold. give him a moment, he needs to rein in the frustrated sigh. as he hunts around for a way to heat the water (how do you even start fires? he's never had to before) )

No thanks. I'm not all that hungry. But if you're willing to share the recipe, I'd appreciate that. It kinda reminds me of home.

[isaz]

[ Boreas isn't one to press others for something they don't want to talk about, so Mako only gets a slightly long look. ]

I can write it down for you later. Though, the key to it is dragonsbreath fruit, which is rare outside of my homeland. You could probably approximate it with a couple of other ingredients, though.

[ This he says as he picks up one of the small red berries on the counter, next to a small bowl filled with berry paste. ]

[isaz]

[ There's a pause before he starts picking out part of the berry paste from the food he's preparing. From the looks of it and her words, she looks weakened, and it's definitely not a good idea to feed malnourished people intense cuisine.

It would be easier if he could soften the meat, but the animal's flesh is tough to begin with. He can only hope some cutting would suffice. ]

I'll take care of that.

[ Curt as he is, he's not about to let someone starve. ]

What's your name?

[resistivity]

( it's a firebender's magic word, dragons. even though he. isn't a firebender anymore, that instinct remains. mako perks up even as he's dumping water into a teapot to set on a warm corner of the oven. how do you heat things without bending? this boy just doesn't know. he's not even sure he could build a fire from scratch, because he literally never needed to before. )

Is that what that is? ( a gesture to the berries. ) Or is that the approximation you were talking about?

( he's not going to just. up and ask if there are actual dragons, because he's a grown man and that's just not the sort of thing grown men do but inside there's very much a little kid's mantra of dragon, dragon, dragon and an insatiable curiosity about the possibility. surely no world would come up with the word, use it to describe something (spicy, probably? is that what he's smelling?) and manage all that completely independent of knowledge of the real thing, right? )

[isaz]

That is what it is. I had some on me when I came here.

[ They're a jack of all trades, the small red berries that appear on what bush or vegetation that stubbornly clings to life in the frigid never-ending winter, red like blood, like gems. Good for spicing food, for treating lethargy; the lifeblood of the winter itself. ]

I've saved some of the pits, so we can grow some if the soil is willing.

[ Of course dragons are real. They are real, just like how the horns on his head are real. ]

[resistivity]

Smart. You could try it in a pot first, and then transplant them later.

( mako knows a little bit about gardening. mostly through nefarious means — his childhood was an awful lot of theft and people who lived in republic city who had small garden plots were the first to suffer for it. still. he picked up a few things. )

Are they named after real dragons?

( he's not crass enough to gesture to the man's horns, but. he has to know. )

[p_mortem]

[ Eventually, everybody would be fed and he'd have less of a chance of getting through the night without having to speak; Minato knows this. He hung onto hope until the last minute, looking somewhat startled when Boreas finally addresses him, but shakes his head and would have left it at that if he didn't feel compelled to leave, with no good reason for loitering. ]

Not really... Mostly I'm told light, bland stuff's better when you're sick. [ vegetable soups, is what that advice is probably hinting at, not the thick black coffee in Minato's hands, but the drink is warm and the warmth helps just as much as anything else. ]

But I like listening to people talk, [ he adds, almost like an afterthought, as if to justify his reason for still being here. ]

[purrtagonist]

[a gentle snort]

Looks like you already know my answer.

[he presses a hand against his mouth to stifle his cough, before pulling up a chair to sit down at the nearest table]

If you're sharing, I definitely won't say know. It smells really good. . .

[isaz]

They require a very specific set of circumstance to flourish. I would be able to replicate them if I had my magic, but I must look into other means now.

[ The tone he uses is as if he doesn't acknowledge the possibility of giving up; that failure is not an option. ]

Yes, they are. In the mountains where they grow, dragons are the only creatures able to breathe fire. Thus the spiciness.

[isaz]

[ It's useful to listening to people talk. One picks up information of all kinds - even if they are platitudes, it lets a person gain insight into the speaker. It's the reason why Boreas has set up this entire food giveaway, after all.

So he makes a sound of acknowledgement first, folding his arms. ]

It's a good habit to have. [ But, since Minato mentioned being sick ] How do you feel right now?

[isaz]

Mm.

[ That's a sound of gruff acknowledgement before he picks out a particular slab to inspect it. It seems to be almost done. ]

Do you like it well done or soft? The game meat is a bit tough here, so I added some butter.

[ Or, what passes to be butter. It's close enough. ]

[purrtagonist]

Soft.

[everyone knows the flavors are best when it's still juicy and soft!!]

Thank you, by the way. . . for making lunch.

[invasif]

[ She almost protests that he doesn't need to take care of it, that no alterations be made, that she wouldn't complain in the first place, but the primal desire to eat something as soon as possible stills her tongue. She's not going to argue, she's going to sit and breathe and try not to make herself sick wolfing down the first food she sees. Even as a starving child she had known better... but even as a starving child in a war torn world she had never been hungry like this. ]

I am Lady Ilde.

[ Perhaps the title isn't necessary, she knows enough to omit her more formidable title of Lady of Cinders, but... she's been Lady Ilde since she was thirteen, that is more difficult to revert. ]

Thank you.

[ For all of her other faults, she does know how to be gracious. ]

[resistivity]

( that tenacity is something he can respect. he likes this guy already. the water seems to have set to a boil, so he rescues the teapot and sets about making his tea properly this time around. he handles the teapot with little regard to the heat of its sides and bottom, and seems unbothered by it. losing his firebending didn't mean losing years of tolerance for handling hot objects. small favors.

he holds up the teapot once he's poured his own, water sloshes on the inside. it's both invitation and offer, but really — it's the dragons that hold his attention. )

Have you met any? They're really rare in my world.

( there's a sanctuary for them in the fire nation, heavily guarded and patrolled, but. there aren't many. )

[isaz]

[ He gives Mako a nod when the teapot is offered to him - it's easy enough for him to pull out a cup, given how he's searched the kitchen and roughly knows where the important utensils are. ]

Thanks.

[ This place is hotter than Isaz, so he's been sweating a little. ]

I have met dragons. They live on the moon, and I live in a mountainous region. That place is high enough for them to fly over my nation. They usually keep to themselves, but the elder wyrms sometimes come to impart humans with their knowledge.

[ Well, half of that is fabricated, but he's been telling this lie for so long that it might as well be the truth. ]

[isaz]

Don't worry about it.

[ He waves a hand dismissively, half-turning back to his work, but still oriented so that they can talk comfortably ]

You need food to fight off the sickness. I don't get sick easily, so I'll help.

[ It's not like he wants to or anything.... wait ]

What's your name?